Are anti-obesity campaigns actually harming our kids?

Here’s the news: a new study of 6,600 children in a German journal, Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, finds that kids who “feel fat” have lower self esteem and feel worse about themselves than children who are actually fat.

Now some background: in recent years numerous studies have found that girls generally overestimate their body weight more often than boys, while the latter frequently underestimate their body weight. (See, for example, here.) And there is a general relationship between body weight and quality of life.

The new study’s contribution is to look at the relationship between a subject’s estimation of his or her own weight, and quality of life. And what the authors found was a much higher quality of life for children and adolescents who consider their body weight “just right” than those who consider themselves “far too fat” — whether they are, or not.

Which leads us to anti-obesity campaigns. (Like this one.) Unquestionably it’s good to encourage children to play outside, and to let parents know it’s not the best idea to feed their children a steady diet of fast food. And schools have done a lot of good by boosting their physical exercise requirements. But what if all this emphasis on fat is a big reason why more kids feel they’re fat than actually are?

In their conclusions, the authors write:

It should also be considered very carefully to what extent the currently ubiquitous campaigns against overweight may in fact be responsible for causing an increase in the proportion of adolescents who unjustifiably consider themselves overweight.

Thus, by making healthy kids feel fat, anti-obesity advocates may be doing some general harm. It would also help a great deal, of course, if the ideal male and female models weren’t ridiculously thin.

Any worthwhile effort begun with the best of intentions can be taken to extremes or done in ways that can result in unintended consequences. Constantly reexamining any ongoing efforts to “help” a perceived problem so midcourse corrections in the efforts can be made is prudent. That appears to be the case here but does not diminish the value of the original goal.